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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136232">the room where it happened</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds'>bluesandbirds</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Brothers, Dream Smp, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Memories, Technoblade and Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, The Final Control Room, Trauma, i have feelings about them, l'manburg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:12:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,736</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136232</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"Why are you so scared of that room, Tommy?"</em><br/> <br/>techno stumbles upon something called history.<br/>tommy wishes he'd let it rest.</p><p><em>I unravel until I remember...</em><br/> <br/></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Technoblade &amp; TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Completed stories I've read</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the room where it happened</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>going back to all my fics and fixing techno's tag was such a freeing experience. getting to tag this one as just "technoblade (video blogging rpf)" was wonderous, im so glad</p><p>that line in the summary is from "go tonight" from the mad ones which this is kinda inspired by</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tommy's shaking.</p><p>It's not subtle shaking either, a faint tremor you can only see if you're looking close enough, no. It's his full body quivering like a bowstring, unavoidably obvious even in the haphazardly lit tunnels. He feels about a strong breeze away from falling apart completely.</p><p>Though Tommy can feel the unyielding eyes zeroing in on his shaking frame, Technoblade is tactful enough to not mention his physical state. He is not, however, tactful enough to leave it all alone.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He doesn't want to answer. He doesn't want to remember.</p><p>Techno knows damn well what happened in that room, read the journals Wilbur keeps in a chest with all his blue because he's The Blade and could never live with being the least knowledgable person in the ravine.</p><p>His brother's being cruel. Taunting him with the past Tommy tried so hard to bury with the boy who lost a duel to Dream.</p><p>The sewer tunnels are hot and damp and the grossness of it all adds to how much he wants <em>out</em>. The short, quick bursts of musty air Tommy's been inhaling are not nearly enough to fill his screaming lungs. He wants to leap out of his own skin, scratch and claw his way to the surface, inhale the sunshine and never breath it out.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>His brother's words echo and underneath that, a deeper, haunting voice says a line that wrote history.</p><p>"Tommy."</p><p>"Let's just go, Techno, let's just go."</p><p>He forces his sodden boots forward, ignoring at the <em>squelch</em> that sounds with his every step.</p><p>The shifting of armor and heavy footsteps signal that his brother is following, but the breath he takes means Tommy is not going to like what comes out of his mouth next.</p><p>Techno speaks in that careful tone he's taken to using around Tommy. Like he's some child that needs to be coddled and rocked to bed.</p><p>"I'm not gonna force you, but sometimes these things need to be talked about. I'm here when you're ready."</p><p>His mouth goes off without having to think. "No. No. No. No. You don't—you don't understand. I can't—I won't—I don't—I don't want to think about that room."</p><p>Techno huffs. "So what? You're gonna avoid it for the rest of your life?"</p><p>Tommy nods vigorously. "Yes, ideally, yes. I'll keep all my emotions here and then I'll die. I'd rather die, Technoblade. You don't—some things don't need to be talked about and I think the site of our betrayal and subsequent murder is one of them."</p><p>He pauses to take a breath, inhaling a lungful of stale air. His hands flex uselessly at his sides and his heart is punching against his ribcage.</p><p>Blankly, he stares at the space in front of him. Tommy blinks once, twice.</p><p>"Is the sewer spinning?" Tommy asks, sudden nausea hitting him at the realization. "I think the sewer's spinning." He giggles. "I don't remember doing that. I don't think I can do that. That'd be redstone and shit. Tubbo's stuff. But Tubbo's not here. Tubbo's not here. Not—"</p><p>He slams his hand against the wall to steady himself.</p><p>A warm presence at his side, Techno's hands guide him down to the floor. He's gently manhandled into a semi-comfortable position, curling in on himself as he gasps. Techno is right there next to him, not even minding that Tommy is soaking where he trudged through the water in his haste to get away.</p><p>"Spinning," he chokes out, face pressed into his knees.</p><p>"I know. I know," Technoblade says.</p><p>Tommy squeezes his eyes shut, trying to block of the influx of memories as Techno rubs circles into his back.</p><p>"Tommy." Gentle this time, his brother says, <em>"</em><em>What happened here, Tommy?"</em></p><p>As much as he doesn't want to, Tommy opens his mouth and he remembers.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, T"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What"</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What"</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Wh</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>                                                                                                   a</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>                   t</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dirt crumbled away to reveal a dark, stone tunnel. Eret's secretive smirk. Apprehension weighed down his bones, but his friends spurred him on.</p><p>Uncertain chuckles as they took the stairs up two at a time—three for Wilbur, freakishly tall as he was—and the awkward clunking of armor that filled the air.</p><p>A chorus of gasps and <em>what?</em>'s as the tunnel opened up into a small chamber, the sign in the entrance marking it as the <em>Final Control Room</em>.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Fundy, lingering near the entrance, a skeptical tilt to his brow, he was...</p><p>He was...</p><p>He was looking right at the walls when they opened up. The first to see the ominous glint through the crack in the blackstone.</p><p>Fundy was the first to see and the last to die. He pressed himself into corners and shadows, fighting for one more second, the smell of burning in his nose and the sound of screaming in his ears.</p><p>Tommy remembers netherite armor walking away as blackness clouded his vision, four figures advancing towards an orange blob, Fundy was surrounded.</p><p>And then he was...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Tubbo, striding behind his friends, awe sweeping over his features as he took it all in, he was...</p><p>He was...</p><p>He was stunned, unable to move from where he stood paralyzed behind Tommy. Snapping to movement when it was already too late.</p><p>Tubbo was screaming in panic, in fear, in pain as flames crept up his body. </p><p>Tommy remembers feeling Tubbo drop, the cold, empty space at his back and the thud of a body, Tubbo was on the ground.</p><p>And then he was...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Wilbur, opening the chest marked with his name, suspicion and hope battling it out in his gut, he was...</p><p>He was...</p><p>He was hit from behind, tackled by a body in full netherite. Diamond armor only serving to bring him down faster.</p><p>Wilbur was proven right in his suspicions as Punz brandished his blade for a decisive blow.</p><p>Tommy remembers his brother's final cry, <em>"A traitor!" </em>pulled from Wilbur's lips with blood and agony, Wilbur was stabbed.</p><p>And then he was...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Eret, lurking at the back of room, eyes gleaming and head raised, and he was...</p><p>He was...</p><p>He was...</p><p>... smiling.</p><p>Tommy remembers that smile. The sharp edges where he'd previously only known kindness. The way he looked like the cat who caught the cream or the canary or satisfaction at last. The way it made his stomach drop. The way it was one last beautiful thing to see before the end.</p><p>Eret was a traitor.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"What happened here, Tommy?"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>And Tommy?</p><p>Where was Tommy?</p><p>He was in the middle of the room.</p><p>Curious, impatient, greedy fingers running over the surface of a strange button on a pedestal. Ignoring the confused murmurs of his friends, only looking up at the sound of pistons.</p><p>Tommy was staring up at a white mask, blood dribbling down his chin and fire hugging his skin.</p><p>And then he was gone.</p><p> </p><p>Tommy woke up. Bandages around his body. The taste of a healing potion on his lips. Wilbur's hand in his.</p><p>His brother, upon feeling his movement, shot up. He hugged him, handed him a jacket, and told him to meet in the Camarvan.</p><p>The war went on.</p><p>Life went on.</p><p>From there the war was... it was... it was a blur of fire and explosions and red slickness on his palms. Tommy couldn't tell the first week of the war from the last. Or maybe he could, but only from how much light was left in his best friend's eyes.</p><p>The only thing Tommy can recall in as much detail as that night was a sunrise on the prime path. Humid and warm, sweat dripping down his neck, the unyielding stiffness of Fundy's bow underneath his white fingertips. The creaking boards below his boots. The shock of the water. The searing pain in his chest. Tubbo's scream. Wilbur's eyes. Fundy's hands. A white mask.</p><p>And then waking up once again. Bandages, potion, his brother. A certainty of exactly what to do next.</p><p>Tommy went on.</p><p>He made a deal with a tyrant, became a hero and a vice president and a L'Manburgian.</p><p>And he never looked back.</p><p>But now, staring into the blackstone abyss of his own memories, he thinks he left something behind in that Final Control Room.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"It was never meant to be."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Something Eret just said. Just to say. Just to have the final word, but it hangs over everyone's head now, heavier than the crown he took as a reward.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"It was never meant to be."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>In the distrust that Fundy equips more than any armor or shield. In the hardness in Tubbo's eyes that didn't exist before. In the TNT that Wilbur laced around L'Manburg.</p><p>In the shaking of Tommy's body even in the heat of the sewers, covered in netherite, and underneath the arm of his brother.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"It was never meant to be."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The words spill from his lips, unintelligible and more sob than speech, but Technoblade seems to understand nonetheless. Techno keeps a hand on his shoulder and meets Tommy's rambles with a soft reassurance.</p><p>He sniffles. "I was scared," he says, hiccuping and gasping. "Before it happened. I don't—I don't think I've ever told anyone that before."</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“It's fine, no one just recovers in a day, Tommy. Healing is—it's a long process. It’s fine”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Old bandages around his body. The taste of an invisibility potion on his lips. Techno's hand in his.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"It's fine."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He takes a shuddering breath.</p><p>One.</p><p>Two.</p><p>Feels his knees stop trembling as the heaving of his chest eases.</p><p>Techno's hand in his. Warm and callused and solid and real.</p><p>"Am I healing?" he whispers into his own shell.</p><p>Technoblade tightens his hold. "Of course you are. Of course you are." He swallows. "And we can take as long as you need—well, maybe not longer than the minute of invisibility I've got left—but after that, as long as you need." He gives an awkward chuckle.</p><p>Tommy blows out a breath, long and slow. Listens to the slight whoosh as it leaves his mouth.</p><p>
  <em>As long as you need.</em>
</p><p>He lifts his head, blinking against the torchlight. Jerkily, he nods.</p><p>Techno rises, hand never leaving his, and helps Tommy up in turn.</p><p>Together, they walk the rest of the way out.</p><p>Techno never lets go.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>alright school is over for the semester so hopefully that means ill be able to get a lot of the stuff i wanna write out. i have one more angsty techno tommy fic planned and then a lot of stuff in the hs au so look out for that if you're interested</p><p>also follow me at businessbois on tumblr if you want? i dont rly know how tumblr works, i just post compilations on there and its fun</p></blockquote></div></div>
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